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UP FRONTThursday 28 January 2016
US, China discuss North Korea, South China Sea Analysis: Student arrest renews
MATTHEW LEE
CHRIS BODEEN
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — Top U.S. and
Chinese officials sparred
Wednesday over how to
deal with North Korea’s lat-
est nuclear weapons test
and ease tensions over ter-
ritorial disputes in the South jing would not support new
China Sea.
U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry and Chinese Foreign
Minister Wang Yi met for
more than four hours and
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, poses with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their meet-
ing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. Kerry is in China on the
final leg in his latest round-the-world diplomatic mission.
said their discussions were
“constructive” and “can-
did.” But at a joint news
conference, they present-
ed sharply opposing posi-
tions on the two issues.
Kerry acknowledged that
“our differences will con-
tinue to test us.” Still, he
stressed that the world
benefits when the United
States and China are able
to work together, including
on the Iran nuclear deal
and climate change.
On North Korea, Kerry said
the United States wanted
new U.N. Security Council
action that would impose
“significant new measures”
to punish Pyongyang for its
test this month and boost
pressure on the North to re-
turn to disarmament talks.
“There’s been a lot of talk
about North Korea through
these past years. Now we
believe is the time for ac-
tion that can bring North
Korea back to the table,”
Kerry said.
Wang said China, which
is North Korea’s most im-
portant ally, chief trading
partner and a key source
of economic assistance,
agreed on the need for a
new resolution.
But he suggested that Bei-
penalties even though it
has condemned the test-
ing. “Sanctions are not an
end in themselves,” he said.
“The new resolution should
not provoke new tension
in the situation, still less de- China is not doing as much
stabilize the Korean Penin-
sula,” Wang said.
Later Wednesday, the U.S.
ambassador to the United
Nations,
Samantha Power, told
reporters that countries
“need to accelerate prog-
ress” on negotiating a U.N.
resolution.
Kerry noted that sanctions
had brought Iran to the
nuclear negotiating table.
“More significant and im-
pactful sanctions were
put in place against Iran,
which did not have a nu-
clear weapon than against
North Korea, which does.”
“All nations, particularly
those who seek a global
leadership role, or have
a global leadership role,
have a responsibility to
deal with this threat,” he
said, referring to China.
Kerry said the sides agreed
both on the need for a
strong new resolution on scrutiny for North Korean tours
North Korea, but also to ac-
celerate talks on what that ERIC TALMADGE
would entail. Associated Press
“It’s good to agree on the TOKYO (AP) — An American university student’s arrest
goal. in North Korea has rekindled questions about wheth-
But it’s not enough to agree er a small but steady trickle of U.S. tourists who go to
on the goal, we believe the country are unwittingly offering themselves up as
we need to agree on the valuable pawns in a political game with Pyongyang
meaningful steps neces- that can have serious repercussions for officials back
sary to get to the achieve- in Washington who have to bail them out when things
ment of the goal to the ne- go wrong.
gotiations that result in de- U.S. tourism to North Korea is legal and virtually all
nuclearization,” Kerry said. Americans who make the journey return home without
Wang also took umbrage incident.
But the detention of Otto Warmbier (WORM-bir), a
21-year-old University of Virginia economics major who
had chosen to spend his New Year’s vacation in North
Korea, comes at a particularly difficult, or opportune,
time, depending on how you choose to interpret it.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool) Just days after he was arrested, North Korea conduct-
ed what it said was its first H-bomb test. As Warmbier
at U.S. complaints that sits in detention, the United Nations Security Council
is mulling a new round of what are expected to be
as it can with the leverage heavy sanctions in response to that test.
it has on North Korea. He According to Warmbier’s tour agent, Young Pioneer
noted that China’s posi- Tours, he was almost on his plane home when officials
tion has been consistent pulled him aside, took him into a special room at the
in opposing North Korea’s Pyongyang airport and placed him under arrest for al-
nuclear weapons program legedly committing an as-yet-undisclosed hostile act
and supporting a diplomat- against the state.
ic resolution to the matter. He is still under lock-and-key, possibly in the relative
“For many years China comfort of the Yanggakdo, a tourist hotel where his
has been working hard to group had stayed that has previously been used to
implement these,” he said. keep detainees until they are deported or more formal
“We have delivered on our legal measures are taken. North Korea says he is under
obligation.” investigation and acted with the “tacit connivance of
Kerry said China is North the U.S. government and under its manipulation.”
Korea’s main link to the That is an ominous detail for North Korea to offer.
outside world, and that Initial announcements by North Korea rarely say much
it could do more to limit about the actual crime, and linking it to the U.S. gov-
cross-border transactions ernment in their first statement to the world through
that benefit North Korean state-run media is highly uncommon. Though not
leader Kim Jong Un and his a tourist, one more American, missionary Kim Dong
government. Chul, believed to be a naturalized citizen of Korean
Kerry also called on China descent, is reportedly in North Korean custody along
to halt land reclamation with a Canadian-Korean missionary who is serving a
and construction of air- life sentence. “We can’t comment on Mr. Warmbier’s
strips in disputed areas of case at this time as we don’t feel it would be in his in-
the South China Sea. Those terests, but every arrest that has occurred has, to our
steps have alarmed its knowledge, been with context,” Troy Collings, one of
smaller neighbors.q the directors of Young Pioneer Tours, said in an email
Wednesday.
Without more information on the charges, it’s impos-
sible to gauge North Korea’s motives for throwing the
book at Warmbier or speculate about how difficult his
release might be. Despite the headlines and atten-
tion they garner, especially compared with problems
involving Chinese visitors, who are far more numerous
but rarely if ever jailed, actual arrests of U.S. tourists in
North Korea are extremely rare. And while North Ko-
rea might be lowering the bar for cases it chooses to
pursue, arrests are by no means random — virtually all
have come after violations of well-known North Korean
regulations on how tourists must conduct themselves.
But the real problems kick in over what happens next.
That’s when things tend to get political.
North Korea and the United States are still technically
at war and have no diplomatic relations. So gaining
an American’s freedom can and often does require
a senior U.S. official or well-known statesman to fly to
Pyongyang, hat in hand, to personally bail the detain-
ee out.q